Who is Cole Allen? White House gunman ID’d as 31-year-old California teacher, ‘could be on the spectrum’

The gunman who breached security at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday night has been identified as a 31-year-old California teacher, according to reports. Cole Allen was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives as he ran into that checkpoint before opening fire at a Secret Service agent.

Allen was arrested after barging into the Washington Hilton hotel and charging toward the ballroom where Trump and roughly 2,500 guests had assembled. The incident happened around 8:30 pm when the dinner was ongoing, and salad was being served.

Police said Allen was a guest at the hotel where the dinner was ongoing and is said to have acted alone. "We have secured a room here in the hotel, and again, we'll go through the appropriate procedures to determine what was inside there," Jeffery Carroll, interim police chief for the Metropolitan Police Department, told reporters.

Trump hosted a press conference at the White House shortly after the incident, joined by first lady Melania Trump. The President said he heard the gunshots, but did not realise it was a bullet. “I heard a noise and thought it was a tray going down,” he said. “We heard that noise, and it was either a tray or a bullet. I was hoping it was a tray.”

He described Allen as a "sick person" and looked “pretty evil”. You know, he charged from 50 yards away, so he was very far away from the room. He was moving. He was really moving," Trump added.

The President also shared a video on Truth Social of the incident. It shows a person running through a hallway where several security personnel are standing. Seven law enforcement personnel were seen drawing their guns and charging after him.

A report by the New York Post quoted a witness who said the suspect appeared to  emerge from a “makeshift room” near the entrance where bar carts were being stored. There was no security at the time. “He was in that room […] he grabbed it out of a bag or something,” said Helen Mabus, a volunteer, to Post. She added that the weapon “was long” and “didn’t look like a typical gun.”

Meanwhile, Allen’s neighbour, Jeff Smith, told The Post that “maybe he could be on the spectrum.”

Though Allen opened fire at the Secret Service agent, he was not shot back at. He has since been moved to a local hospital for evaluation. He is being treated for injuries.